Like most journalists, I get lots of requests for meetings from people who have ideas to parlay, products to push, locations to publicize, and so on. Like most journalists, I am also prickly about such meetings because I don’t want to be played, as it were. The assumption is: hey, I know you have an…

What woman can’t use some lessons in feminine allure? Shoba Narayan travels to Kyoto to pick up some tips from the mastersthe city’s renowned geishas. Trust usthere’s much more to Japan’s most enduring icons than white face-paint and a bee-stung pout